From Gazette-Telegraph 11/7/94
 
Fearns' shot earns Tigers 2-1 OT victory
 CC takes advantage of man-advantage
 
by Steve Page
 
Alaska Anchorage gave Kent Fearns a rare opportunity to unleash his power-
play slap shot Sunday, and the Colorado College defenseman made it a
memorable one.
 
Fearns rifled a rising rocket from the top of the left faceoff circle
through a crowd of players and into the top of the Seawolves' goal 3 minutes,
16 seconds into sudden-death overtime, lifting the Tigers to a 2-1 victory
before 1,726 fans at the Cadet Ice Arena.
 
The win kept CC unbeaten in four Western Collegiate Hockey Association games.
The third-ranked Tigers are 5-1 overall.  The Seawolves slipped to 1-5, 2-6.
 
"All night, they were taking the top away," Fearns said of the Seawolves'
defense against CC's man-advantage situations.  For most of the game, the
strategy worked, as UAA kept the Tigers from scoring on their first 10
power plays, including a five-minute, checking-from-behind major penalty
against defenseman Darren Meek near the end of the second period.
 
But when Meek was whistled for high-sticking 2:47 into overtime, Fearns and
his teammates went to work.  Peter Geronazzo passed the puck cross-ice to
R.J. Enga, who slipped it to Fearns, who fired the shot, then disappeared
under a pile of exuberant Tigers.
 
"It just worked out that way," said Fearns, a senior from Langley, British
Columbia, who had a similar shot skip off a goal post early in the third
period.  "They sagged down on the goal.  I was open for two shots."
 
CC coach Don Lucia said the feeling bordered on unnerving before Fearns
broke the tie that had existed since the game's thrid minute.
 
"From midway through the second period until late in the third, we were
uptight.  We panicked a little," Lucia said.  "We hadn't been in any tight
games.  I told them, `Don't get uptight.  This is what we need.'
 
"It was a great game.  The goaltenders played extremely well."
 
Anchorage sophomore Chris Davis, starting after Lee Schill suffered a
concussion in the 8-4 loss to CC on Saturday, stopped 44 shots.  CC
sophomore Judd Lambert rejected 31 attempts.
 
UAA coach Brush Christiansen said his team shouldn't have been skating
short-handed in OT.
 
"That was definitely not a penalty at that point," he said.  "He was just
trying to clear the zone and his stick just got in there."
 
Freshman wing Jason Gudmundson scored CC's first goal 16 seconds after
the opening faceoff, and UAA's Mark Stitt gave the impression this one would
be a shootout when he retaliated with a short-handed goal at 3:06.
 
But the teams then resorted to a tight-checking, board-rattling game that
generated nearly two hours' worth of penalties.  CC wing Chad Remackel was
given two roughing penalties, a misconduct and a game misconduct for his
part in a four-player skirmish early in the third period.  He was not ejected,
though, and will play Friday at the University of Denver.
 
(end of article)
 
 
Karen Heasley
Colorado College '95
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